If you open it via one of the applications, it becomes a funny interactive filter like the virtual Santa. If you open it directly to the web, the animated reindeer and trees pop up on the screen and dance and jump wherever the camera is pointed. After opening the app in Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or your phone, you move your phone around a bit to engage the augmented reality. Obviously, you're going to want to send the picture or video to the whole family.įor some reindeer fun, their reindeer themed filter is fairly simple, but fun and charming, and kids love the AR aspect of it. You can open the application in Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, or through the web, and the app places the Santa (cowboy) hat on your child and a dancing Santa appears on the screen while Texas landmarks like The Alamo scroll across the bottom.
You can even choose from a library of Santas with different skin tones. My daughter must have scrolled through every iteration, and tried desperately to get the Santa where she wanted him. Grocery store chain HEB offers a slew of free holiday-themed apps that are like festive filters. After excluding any apps that were slow to load, glitchy, or otherwise too costly, here are the best of the bunch.
Our interactions are so limited this year, why not take a dive into the fun world of augmented reality for a little while? I took the time to download and test drive all these (and more) applications to find the best and easiest to use. There are even interactive augmented realities that kids can play with themselves, like the " Bring Reindeer to Life" program by Texas grocery store chain, HEB. Some of them have Santa unpacking presents, and others just have a Santa in repose. (Also, this requires 100% less glitter, which I am here for.) The apps are all basically the same you film or take a picture of your living room or wherever, and then click a button to insert and size Santa so that he fits appropriately into the space. It's creative as heck, and way more convincing than some of the things I've tried to convince my kids of the Santa myth.
It's like playing Pokémon, but you're catching Jolly Old Saint Nick, instead. One of these are the Christmas apps that allow you to insert Santa into your home via augmented reality. Thankfully, there are a few fun opportunities to make the holidays a bit brighter. Finding small things that might be even a little bit entertaining is huge. Let's face it, this seems to be a year devoid of all magic and joy.